A new digital platform designed to cut delays in diagnosing and treating severe asthma has been launched for use within the NHS – a move its Edinburgh creators say could transform how patients access life-changing therapies.

Digital transformation specialist Storm ID has announced the launch of Storm Diagnostics pathway, a Software-as-a-Medical Device (SaMD) platform that digitises and accelerates the diagnosis and treatment pathway for patients with severe asthma.

The new service is being deployed within the NHS Humber Health Partnership to underpin its severe asthma pathway. By streamlining referrals from district general hospitals and automating key clinical steps, the platform speeds up patient access to high-cost biologic therapies – reducing delays and improving outcomes.

Currently, patients with severe, uncontrolled asthma face a lengthy and complex journey. Referral to a specialist Severe Asthma Centre (SAC) for assessment by a Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) often involves significant cross-organisational data sharing challenges, which can create bottlenecks that delay access to guideline-directed care.

The new tool addresses this challenge by digitising the entire clinical workflow. The platform connects referring sites, including York and Scarborough NHS Foundation Trust and Harrogate & District NHS Foundation Trust, with the central specialist hub. It enables secure, efficient virtual vetting of cases, automates data collection and optimises the referral-to-treatment decision process by the MDT. This reduces the need for unnecessary face-to-face appointments and duplicate tests, helping clinicians make faster, better-informed decisions.

Among the key benefits cited are:

  • Faster treatment decisions – reducing time to access biologics
  • Improved data sharing – secure, real-time collaboration across multiple trusts
  • Reduced patient burden – fewer unnecessary appointments and repeat investigations
  • Enhanced governance – full pathway visibility for both referencing clinicians and MDT hubs

“Digital tools are essential to creating a more efficient and responsive NHS,” said Paul McGinness, co-founder and chair, Storm ID. “The report last year from the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Diagnostics highlighted the lack of digital tools to help streamline diagnostic pathways, improve efficiency and address data interoperability and care coordination challenges between care settings. This service enables a ‘hub and spoke’ model for severe asthma which is designed to address these challenges.”

The platform’s ‘flexible, permissions-based system’ allows clinicians at referring hospitals to track their cases, while the central MDT hub maintains a complete overview, ensuring robust clinical governance.

While each clinical pathway is different, historical studies of similar digital diagnostic tools in cardiovascular disease management have demonstrated the potential to reduce time to treatment by as much as 75%.

Mike Crooks, Professor of Respiratory Medicine and Clinical Lead for Humber and North Yorkshire Respiratory Network, added: “Getting patients with severe asthma onto the right treatment, like biologics, as quickly as possible is a key priority. The traditional pathway has inherent delays, and we were actively seeking a solution to streamline our processes. This solution provides our multi-disciplinary team with the tools we need to manage referrals more efficiently, make faster decisions, and ultimately improve outcomes for our patients across the region.”